Heretofore when a specimen of urine is required it has been customary to deposit the urine in a container such as a beaker in a physician's office for direct analysis, or in the home by using any convenient container such as a used and washed jelly glass. For men this has been a simple procedure but for women it has been difficult, frequently involving wetting of the hands holding the container and in general presenting an unpleasant situation. These problems are particularly acute when a specimen partially through urination is required.
In an attempt to provide a better way to obtain a specimen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,322 proposes the use of a liquid absorbent body on a handle, which is placed in the stream of urine and then transferred into a container where it is squeezed so that a liquid specimen is delivered into the container. A relatively large specimen is obtained.
However, normally the physician or a user of one of the home medical test kits requires only a few drops of specimen. In the usual case or when the above mentioned patented arrangement is used, the container with an excess of urine specimen is sampled by the use of a medicine dropper or its equivalent, so as to provide the one or a few drops of specimen required.
In some cases where the specimen must be dropped on a sensitized surface it is necessary to rub the specimen on the surface. The home type of kit has been provided with a medicine dropper having an end forming what is in effect a spatula which is used for this purpose.
The object of the present invention is to provide a device for collecting, transporting and using a specimen of urine, in a manner that is more convenient, more secure and less unpleasant. The transporting may be either in a person's home from the point of collection of the specimen to a home medical test kit, or for collecting at home and transporting the specimen to a physician's office.